The Anniversary Approaches

"What anniversary is that?" you might ask. Well, Independence Day, of course!

So much has happened in the past year. There have been incredible challenges and incredible blessings.

A year ago, our lives were cruising along; so well, in fact, that I began to wonder what challenges the Lord had in store for us. You know, like, being called to teach Gospel Doctrine or something. Little did we know.

To begin with, Joe graduated with his MBA in July, 2008 and the next day, our angel baby was born. Ariana has Down syndrome, which makes us just about the most blessed family on the face of the planet. However, her heart needed fixing. Here is a run-down of some of the events in our lives, starting from about that time:

• June: Ridge moves to Flagstaff to get ready to attend NAU
• July 20: Ari is born
• July 21: We find out that there is a serious heart defect which will require surgery
• The end of July: I start a new job as a curriculum specialist for the District. It is a HUGE challenge, with lots of stress, but I work with wonderful people and learn more than I thought possible
• August: Gabe moves in with us (he is our second-oldest grandson) and starts school in Show Low
• Life cruises along for a couple of months
• The first part of November: Joe and Whitney move to Casa Grande. Casa Dorame is a large home with plenty of room for a growing family. I go down to help paint, clean, and arrange
• November 12: Rick loses his job (see an earlier post if you need details)
• November 13: Ari has open-heart surgery. The stress is insane, the repair is successful, and our angel warrior is released from the hospital in just seven days - the fastest release the charge nurse has ever done
• Ward and Brianne come down for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful!!
• December: Brianne graduates from BYU-Idaho
• January 2009: She takes the NCLEX, passes, and gets hired at Huntsman Cancer Hospital
• February: The McCombies move to Salt Lake to begin their new lives as college grads. No more homework!!!
• The end of March: Ridge receives his mission call to the Guatemala City South mission.
• April: we gather in Salt Lake for General Conference at Ridge's request. He is awaiting his mission call and wants to have the family together for Conference one more time before he leaves
• May: I finish my first year in the new job. Cue up Reba, cuz I'm a Survivor!
• June: Three more grandchildren come to live with us. One tends to clash with law enforcement, one is ADHD, and one is just a five-year-old girl who loves to sing and talk, and who misses her mommy intensely. Our house is very full, very hectic, and our empty-nest days are over in a New York Minute.
• July: Rick starts working overnights at Wal-Mart so we can keep up with the bills while his business grows. He works all night, comes home and works all day building an insurance agency, and sleeps for a few hours in the evenings. He can't figure out why he's so tired. . .and I'm finding out how it feels to be a single mom. He still insists on doing the laundry.
• August: We take Ridge to the MTC in Provo. Yes, I cried. But only until we got out of the parking lot. I am so excited for this wonderful missionary son, who is so excited to be serving in Latin America!
• Year two of my job starts.

That just about brings us up to speed. See below for this month's excitement, the Buddy Walk.

Which brings me to the opening line of this installment: Independence Day. The desire of Rick's heart was to break away and do his own thing. The co-workers were. . .hmmm. . .how shall I put this (Thumper, what did your father tell you? If you can't say something nice, don't say nuthin' at all). You get the picture. But he couldn't bring himself to walk, because after all, how would we survive? Well, the decision was taken out of our hands, and we did survive. It has been quite a year. But we are free and independent. Tired and independent. Exhausted physically and emotionally, but. . .yes, independent. When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one family to break the ties of tyranny, it also becomes necessary for them to declare the causes that impel them to the seperation. We wouldn't have chosen it for ourselves, but here we are - free at last, free at last. Happy Anniversay to us!